Hennessy's View

Fred Thompson, who only a week ago was predicted to finish behind Ron Paul, roared into third place in the Iowa Caucuses, passing McCain and Giuliani. Huckabee and Romney finished one and two.

Because so many had written off Thompson, his third-place showing should bolster his campaign–a campaign that seemed stuck in low gear until recently.

The sad news is the support for Huckabee, a “non-conservative” Baptist minister who played a populism card in Iowa, demagoguing the Christian Right to build big momentum headed into the caucuses. Remarkably uninformed on foreign policy and wrong (by GOP standards) on immigration, taxation, and federalism, Huckabee managed to hold onto enough caucusers to claim victory in the first party contest of the year.

For the most of the field, New Hampshire is next in play. For Thompson, he’s likely to take the formula that propelled his late rally straight to South Carolina where he has strong support. McCain is expected to win New Hampshire handily.

Congratulations to Fred and the Fredheads.

UPDATE

From National Review, K-Lo’s interview with Katon Dawson, South Carolina GOP Chair:

DAWSON: Each candidate has something to be encouraged about after tonight including Fred Thompson. Iowa doesn’t have the make-or-break history that our State’s primary enjoys, and I believe Thompson is one of a number of Republican presidential hopefuls who can move forward tonight with confidence.

From Outside the Beltway:

UPDATE (2220): At 95 and 78, the only noteworthy change is that McCain and Thompson have swapped places. They’re separated by a mere 36 votes, so we’ll likely not know who finishes in third place until morning.

UPDATE (12:25 a.m.)

Here’s the audio of Fred’s comments to supporters. South Carolina, here we come!

And Captain Ed hits the nail on the head:

Thompson needed a third-place finish just to keep his credibility alive. It looks like he did that, and conservatives who had made a mad rush to help him stay afloat in the last two weeks have longer to build momentum for him. If they can make a big push in South Carolina, he could get back in the race — but that also helps Giuliani.

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Tags: fredthompson, iowa caucus

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Iran commissioned a stealth attack submarine on November 28, adding a dangerous and potentially destabilizing weapon to its aggressive arsenal.  Built with Russian help, the Ghadir is capable of launching torpedoes and missiles simultaneously.

Perhaps Iran has suspended its nuke program.  Perhaps not.  An advanced sub patrolling the Med in the hands of Iranian nuts is bad news for that part of the world. 

Makes me wish I was still in our submarine force.  I never got to fire a Snap Shot at a submerged target–but I practiced a lot.
   

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Shut up and read.

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Just as Fred Thompson’s campaign started to take off, a loose conspiracy of MSM and bloggers seems determined to bring him down.

As I blogged last night, a single rumor on Control Congress, which seemed implausible, turned into a major story today–the day of the Iowa Cauci.

Apparently, the anti-Thompson forces were spooked by his surge in the polls in Iowa and decided to employ one of the dirtiest tricks in politics:  the withdrawal rumor.  Issued at the right moment–early enough to reach voters, too late for effective denial–the rumor that Candidate X is about drop out of a race can be devastating.

Today’s barrage began (for me) with The Wall Street Journal:

As a noncandidate, Fred Thompson could command the Tonight Show with Jay Leno to deliver his political message. Now, the would-be savior of the conservative coalition can barely get coverage from the Des Moines Register.

WSJ could have saved a lot of space by simply admonishing voters, “Don’t bother wasting your vote on Fred.”   Bastards.

Then, Michelle Malkin aimed her own talented pen point at the Thompson balloon, advancing the withdrawal rumor I blogged about last night, linking to Politico and Hot Air stories, and quoting Joe Carter, a Huckster, who cashed in any conservative credentials he might have had to campaign for Huey Long II:

The FredHeads didn’t see it that way, of course. In their view Fred should be able to just skip this whole election nonsense and go directly to the coronation ceremony. Fortunately, it doesn’t work that way. Most of us want a President who doesn’t think its “pandering” to actually care what we think.

Kiss my ass, Joe.

Until yesterday, I supported Fred because he’s the best man for the job.  Today, it’s personal.  I pray that Thompson shocks the world just to shove a political sock in Joe Carter’s mouth.

I must say I am mystified by Michelle Malkin.  Did she not realize that she fired at Thompson with ammo supplied by the Huckabee campaign?  I mean, she didn’t have even try to qualify Joe Carter’s spiteful rant.  What give, Michelle?

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